While maybe not a surprise given Downie's revelations about his health, and the bands final tour, Downie's death still seemed to take a
lot of people off guard when he passed away last night... maybe because even after the Tragically hips much publicized final tour Gord still continued
on with a number of high profile projects, including a cause that had always been close to him; bringing attention to some of the issues that have
plagued native Canadians, such as the abomination that was reservation schools (He partnered with writer artist Jeff Lemire on Secret Path, which I
very much recommend as a very touching story).

Gord's passing was enough to bring PM Justin Trudeau to tears as he made a statement about the much beloved singer's death.

I wasn't the biggest Tragically Hip fan; I think they really peaked when I was in grade 9 to the point that it was hard to escape them due to
the occasional bad combination of the Can-Con rules (for our US brethren basically rules about how much Canadian content has to appear on stuff like
TV and Radio up here) and being very popular... meaning they got a lot of play because they checked both boxes of being stuff that was Canadian, and
stuff that people wanted to hear... at least they were good... great with some songs even (unlike when Nickleback peaked and were waaaaaaay
overplayed)... but even if I didn't seek them out you still respected their talent, and just how dang Canadian they were.... definitely if there
was a national soundtrack you'd find a few of their songs on there. The Hip never quite caught on the States; but they are definitely worth
checking out (for the record their song New Orleans is Sinking was written I do believe decades before Katrina hit).... lots of great songs, and a
band that was together since the early to mid 80's, got about as big as you can here in Canada, but always maintained that down to earth close
knit feeling like you could walk into your local bar and find them playing there.

RIP Gord', RIP Tragically Hip.

bigfatgoalie

American Dream

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Mood: Stratusfied

posted on 10-18-2017 at 07:49 PM

As a Canafian and Leaf fan I always felt like I should like the Hip more. Courage and Music at Work were my favourite songs of theirs.

It's funny that you mention Music at Work, as that's one my favourites of theirs too, and yet by the more hard core Hip fans it seems to
be one of the least liked songs... it's definitely got a bit of a different sound from most of the rest of their catalogue, so maybe
that's why it stands out?

50 mission cap was one that I think a lot of Leaf fans can get behind; just a nice little nod to a bit of Leafs lore (for those not in the know; Bill
Barilko scored the Stanley cup winning goal in 1951 and then promptly went missing for the next 11 years, during which time the Leafs did not win the
Stanley cup. The year they found his body; he died in a plane crash; they won the cup... not sure who went missing in 1967 resulting in our current
cup drought).

There's been a lot of nice stories about Gord on the radio today to go with around the clock Hip tunes... it sounds like he very rarely ever
fans without an autograph and picture even if it meant staying behind for hours afterwards. Sounds like a very humble and gracious guy by all
accounts.